Australia

Melbourne

So I am slow, there I admit it. A trip that I have been planning on doing for over 2 and a half years finally undertaken. In just under 4 weeks, planned, booked, visa ready, I finally made it and went to Australia with a friend of mine, Claire Susskind.

28 April
Left Cape Town, headed for Jhb and then on a rather long flight to Sydney. Arrived in Sydney on the 29 April, almost on time. Had plenty of time before my connecting flight to Melbourne, so messed around and then took the bus to the domestic terminal where I met my friend, Claire, whom I was going to be travelling with and had already spent a week in Sydney. We were both really early to meet which was quite lucky. We checked out car hire and then headed for Melbourne. The food on the plane was disgusting to say the least. I had vegetarian food - they called it food at any rate. Dry grated carrot in something with dough. My cousin David met us at the airport and then took us to his sister-in-law, Louise, where we were staying. Chatted a while, got the local tourist info and by 22:00 I was really bombed (with the time difference and that, I really can't imagine why). Sleep wasn't a problem.

Tues 30 April
David came to pick us up and took us into town. We stopped in at STA to book tickets to New Zealand. The girls there were useless, the one more than the rest. It took us at least 2 hours to book our flight and we still had to come back to collect our tickets.

We couldn't decide about driving the Great Ocean Rd or taking a tour. The tour won and we booked on one starting the next morning. We saw the Gogg & Magog clocks, the shot tower, where they made shot for guns which is now in the shopping centre, the theatre and the library amongst other things. Ate supper at David and Cheryl.

Wed 1 May
We had to meet the tour bus at 7:45 in town, luckily we got a lift into town a bit earlier, so got breakfast and waited for the bus. Once on the bus and after a few more pickups, headed out to the Grampians. Stopped for tea in a quaint little town (more like a dorpie) called Beaufort. As with most towns that we were to come across, it had to have the obligatory War Memorial. One useful thing is that they provide a green park - always great for tea and lying in the sun.

Tea over, carried on to passed Hall's Gap were we did a walk passed a rock called 'Elephants Rump', nothing exciting and then back to Halls Gap for lunch.

Lunch done, off to the "Jaws of Death" and Reid's Lookout and then McKenzies Falls where we joined another tour group that had come from Adelaide. That said they hadn't been to the 'jaws' yet so we went back there. We didn't walk to the jaws, but just sat at the view point and watched the sun set, it was so different to being there 2-3hours prior.

Jaws	McKenzies Falls

We then drove to The Asses Ears Inn, our accommodation for the night. On the way there were plenty of wallabies and kangaroos on the side of the road. Australia needs to get a road awareness program going for them, since they don't look before crossing and just bound across the road without looking, we had to drive slowly and still nearly hit a few!

The place was great and in the middle of no-where. The sunset was superb. Had a campfire and great views of the sky.

Thurs 2 May
Claire and I got up just before sunrise and went on a walk round the farm the roos were supposed to be at the dam. Great time of day, but alas no roos.

Drove for a while through various little towns, most towns have the same names as places here.

Stopped in Dunkeld for fuel and the wheel fell off the trailer. Left it there to be fixed while we went for a walk up Mount Abrupt, which dwarfs a smaller mountain, Pickoninie. A highish mountain in the area (825m) and a fast walk up, nice view of the flat surroundings and towns below.

Back to pick up the trailer and lunch and then off to Tower Hill, an old volcano, which is now a nature reserve. We saw a koala in the tree and many kangaroos - even one with a joey in her pouch.

We got to London Bridge as the sun had just set so there was a very soft lighting. One section of the bridge has collapsed - one used to be able to walk out onto it. When it collapsed a few years ago, a couple was trapped. Now this is where it gets interesting: the couple were married, however, not to each other and both had sneaked away for the weekend and the press wanted interviews - what a nightmare!

London Bridge	Bay near London Bridge

Stayed at the hostel in Port Campbell and braaied, well rather BBQ'ed for supper.

Fri 3 May
Went past the famous 12 Apostles, well there aren't quite 12 left anymore as they are eroding all the time. Next stop was Loch Ard Gorge. This is where the survivors of a nearby shipwreck came ashore. There is a cave there and this area has some absolutely awesome erosion moulding the rocks.

We had lunch at Apollo Bay. There was a lovely beach where we ate and the water was wonderfully warm. Headed back to Melbourne along the very windy road, stopping every so often to look at the view.

One of the last towns before Melbourne is a place called Geelong. Here not only do they have a drive through bottle store, but there is also a traffic light at the exit so that the cars can safely exit the store.

Back in Melbourne and met up with the family for supper.

Sat 4 May
First stop the Rialto Tower for a view of Melbourne. (hint: if any of you go there, don't waste time watching the video - unless you want a rest. The only reason Claire and I stayed was that we didn't know the other was ready to walk out. At least the seats were comfy). Then went past the Gothic bank, but being a Saturday was closed and couldn't see much through the window. Collected our New Zealand tickets, which to our surprise was rather painless, after the frustration of getting them, we thought the collection process would be "interesting" as well.

There is a tourist tram that goes round the city, so we hopped on. As we passed Parliament house, to our surprise, we saw people go in. We hopped off the tram only to find that it was a private function.

After waiting for ages for the next tram, completed the trip and then caught the end of the Victoria market.

That night, went out to Southbank and then checked out the casino.

Sun 5 May
Started off walking round the Botanical Gardens with David and Cherryl. The gardens are quite huge, as are the colony of bats living there - geesh, they are noisy buggers. Stopped at the National Gallery to look at the Tiwi exhibit. It was quite small, interesting, but nothing spectacular.

We headed out to St Kilda, walked along the markets and right out to the jetty. That night we join other friends, Jonathan and Tarryn who were also there on holiday.

Mon 6 May
David took us to the Dandenongs. We first went for a walk on the Shorewood forest. We lunched at a quiet little place called King George VIII. There was only one other table occupied. Drove on to Healesville. Saw koalas and few other native animals.

New Zealand

Tues 7 May
Up at 3:30 to the catch the cab and be at the airport by 4:30 to head to Christchurch. By the time that we had landed in Christchurch, changed time zones, booked our ticket to Auckland and organized a car, we eventually drove out of Christchurch at 15:00.

Lake Tekapo was the first heading. The road out there was through farmlands and was beautiful and green. The farmers there generally seemed to use some sort of pine tree as fencing. They had lines of these trees all trimmed and neatly cut at perfect angels - their maths teachers would have been proud! We were still on the road to witness a most exquisite sunset. The town of Lake Tekapo was small and quiet. For most part of the night, we were the only people at the restaurant that we were eating.

The hostel was cosy - had a fire going. Played some games before going to bed.

Tues 8 May
Started off the morning with 2 and a half hour walk up Mount John which overlooks Lake Tekapo and walked back along the lake.
Leaving just before lunch, we headed for Mount Cook, stopping at the lookout over Lake Pukaki along the way. At Mt Cook, went for a short walk and then headed for Queenstown situated on Lake Wakatipu.

The people at the hostel were useless as tourist information, so we just headedout for supper and checked out one of the local bars.

Thursday 9 May
One thing about these tourist towns is that they have many different tourist information centers, generally funded by the operators so an unbiased opinion is difficult to come by. Went up the gondola and Luge riding which was great fun!

Claire on the race track

Got some info on the two Sounds, Milford and Doubtful and then headed out to Te Anau.

We got there and checked into a great hostel, Te Anau Lake Front Backpackers. It was basically a little flat with a kitchenette and toilet for the 3 rooms.

We booked an overnight trip on a boat at Milford Sound and then went on a tour of the Glow Worm Caves. The trip left just as the sun was setting and was a 30 minute boat ride to the caves. The worms were incredible. The water in the caves at some point was so still that one could see the reflection of the worms in the water!

Friday 10 May
Started the morning with a short walk on the Rainbow Reach walked to a Wetland viewing platform. There was a little lake, which had a perfect reflection. Lets just say that we had difficulty in see which way the picture should go. Rotate the picture 90deg and what else coud it be?

Had lunch and then headed out to Milford Sound. One of the great things about New Zealand is that there are nature walks all along the road, sign posted with how long the walk is and often the point of walk/what one gets to see. We stopped at many places along the way, one being Mirror Lake. Not only were the reflection great, but so too was the water. One could see all the trees and plants in the water.

The closer we got to Milford, the worse the rain got. But for a town that gets and average of 8m of rain a year! This isn't all that bad since along with the rain, comes the waterfalls which is what makes this area so beautiful. One drives over a pass lined with all these waterfalls and then through a tunnel bored through the mountain. There is no concrete or anything lining the whole, just bare rock! It isn't even that short a tunnel.

Once at terminal we saw many other people that had been in the hostel. Our luggage was taken aboard for us. As we headed up the Fjord (Milford is not really a sound), we saw a Tiger seal which isn't often spotted. There are only 4 permanent falls in the area, but due to the rain, there were falls everywhere!

Early evening, there was a choice of going for a boat ride or kayaking. Due to the rain, opted for the boat ride (stayed dry).

Saturday 11 May
We were woken up at 7:30, had breakfast and then continued cruising. The boat headed to the mouth and into the sea for a short while. Just before mooring on our return, we passed a huge waterfall that was so well hidden that we couldn't see it as we left.

We were ashore by 10:00 and left for Te Anau. Stopped as the cassims and a few other walks and kept bumping into people from the boat.

We stopped and walked around the old mining town of Arrowtown then up and down an incredibly steep and windy pass into Wanaka.

The chap at the hostel had a rather "interesting" sense of humour, but it was a nice place.

Sunday 12 May
Headed for the Puzzling World Maze. This is a really great place. To start off with, there is a maze with 4 towers which one has to get to. We only managed to find 3 due to time constrictions.

Then there is the room at an angel. This is very weird. There is a chair on a rail that looks straight, but due to the angel of the room, slides down the rail. They have done the same with a ladder. After that, comes the hologram hall. The wall is filled with holograms (which are negatives) as one closes ones eyes, they become positives (come out the wall) an follow one round the room. Upon exiting this room are all the mind puzzles. The place is brilliant and one could spend a full day there!

Alas time was marching on, we had been there the better part of the morning, so it was time to move on.

We went to by lunch and then bumped into a couple that were on the tour of the Great Ocean Road with us. Since most of the travelers end up following the same 'tourist' route, one generally keeps bumping into the same people.

Off to the Glaciers J

The drive took as passed Lake Hawea and then the top of Lake Wanaka. Of course the lakes had incredible colours.

Our route took us over Hasst Pass and of course various short walks along the ways. We stopped at places like Blue Pools, where 2 rivers joined, nothing spectacular and Fantail falls to name a few. The road then headed along the coast. We stopped for lunch at about 4, yes I did say lunch (we only bought it in Wanaka - didn't eat). We did a short walk through an interesting little forest which had an incredible reflective pool in it. It was great with the sun filtering through.

Lunch was started on a tower overlooking the beach, however as this was our first introduction to sandflies (they are like mossies with a much worse bite). Not wanting to share, the rest of lunch was eaten in the car!

After much deliberation, as to which Glacier to walk, we decided on Frans Josef. So off we went. Drove through the town of Fox Glacier (there is a petrol station here whose claim to fame is having the most expensive petrol) and then onto Frans Josef.

WE stayed at the YHA - they are used to catering for cold people coming off the Glaciers, they have a sauna. A luxury that was most certainly used!

One thing I must just tell you. I have mentioned these two towns of Frans Josef and Fox. All that is in these towns are helicopter and guiding companies, a few accommodation places and then very few restaurants. Frans Josef is the bigger of the 2 towns and wasn't more than 2-3km long!

Monday 13 May
Up early, had breakfast and made lunch for hike and then headed for a full days hike up the Glacier. The Guiding Company provides ice-picks, boots, gloves, beanies and waterproof clothing. After about 30min walk, we changed to our ice boots and started on the ice. It was fairly warm in the beginning, started off with just shorts and polar tech jacket, however after we stopped for lunch, changed to rain pants as well.

The ice was interesting to walk on. Guides had been up earlier and cut steps into the ice for us to walk up in certain areas. We didn't get high enough to get to the real ice blue that one sees in the pictures, but it was still really interesting to see the ice melting and thus how the glacier is always on the move.

We got off the mountain at about 17:30 and headed for a town called Hokitika. The first hostel that we went to was in the middle of nowhere and dark. The next hostel we went to had one person staying there and was closed. AS there was nothing else that we could find in the town, we called out the owner so that we could stay there.

Neither Claire nor I have ever been in a hostel with just 3 people! Who needed a room - we had a dorm to ourselves as did the other chap that was there.

Tuesday 14 May

Walked round Lake Marapori and headed back to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. Stopped for a walk which wasn't that exciting, but saw a fantail bird. They are cute little things that aren't really afraid of people. He kinda just flew around us.

Next stop was Kura Tawhiti. It is believed to be a Maori spiritual site. There are rocks forming circle in the middle of a field. One could say that there is a similarity to Stonehenge but different. There were supposed to be rock paintings there, but we found out afterwards that you really have to know where they are and they are quite far from the main rocks.

Got to Christchurch. Checked in at the hostel and then headed out for supper. Took the recommendation of the guy from the hostel for a place to eat. Well, it might have been cheap, but the food certainly wasn't good. There were comment cards which weren't favourably filled in.

Walked round the town and out for coffee and a second supper.

Wednesday 15 May
Returned the car and went to the airport. We were hoping to get on an earlier flight, but they wouldn't change our ticket. The International Arctic Centre is near the airport so I went to have a look, wasn't that impressed.
The flight to Auckland was beautiful. The greenery and mountains were great to see from above.

Once in Auckland, picked up a car and headed out. We then headed back. The breaks on the car were pretty non-existent. Got another car and then headed out again.

As we were driving over the bridge to get out of Auckland, one goes past the harbour. The number of watercraft was incredible! As it was getting late, we didn't really stop along the way and headed to Paihia in the Bay of Islands.

Thursday 16 May
Another town with a useless tourist information centre. We mentioned to them a few things that we would be interested in doing and they recommended nothing. Only slightly later in the morning after chatting to some other people and seeing a few notices did we see one or two boat trips that we could've gone on.

Anyway, we took the ferry to Russell, had a walk round (took all of about 20 minutes and we walked slowly) and then came back. We then chartered a small motor boat and went round the bay and saw a few of the fingers of the bay. The boat was quite small so couldn't go out to sea and see the real Islands, but went to the mouth and there was quite a swell running, but got a glimpse of some of the Islands. We had the boat for just over and hour. We were amazed as to the number of yachts that we saw. Considerably more than the population of the town and surroundings. Yachts are fairly cheap and people in Auckland keep their yachts there as well (it is about a 4 hour drive!)

We then drove up to KeriKeri, a fruit producing region and had lunch overlooking the small little habour.

After biding the east coast farewell we headed west. We drove through a town called Opononi (we blinked and almost missed it) and slept at the even smaller town of Omapere.

There was a lovely view point at the top of the cliff overlooking the mouth of the river/lagoon. It was interesting to see the surf break out to sea and then a smooth section and then the rough water at the mount again. Watched the sun set and then off to the local hotel for supper. The hostel only had 3 others staying there. Mucked about and played some games before going to sleep.

Friday 17 May

Went for a walk on the beach, but turned round when it started raining.
Stopped at Tane Mahuta, 'lord of the forest', the largest Kauri tree in New Zealand, thought to be over 1200 years old, and 52m high.

Next stop was the 4 sisters, 4 trees that have grown into one and Te Matua Ngahere "father of the road' trunk over 5m in diameter - largest known and the second largest kauri tree. At the parking lot, there was a sign asking for a $2 security fee to prevent your car being broken into. After having been travelling and stopping in car parks like these for the past week and a bit, we thought that we'd made a wrong turn and ended up back in SA!

The following attraction that we stopped at was the Kai-Iwi Lakes, 3 fresh water lakes. We only found 2 of them and then headed back to Auckland.

But waite, no trip to New Zealand would be complete without sheep so...

We arrived in Auckland managed to find our way to a hostel (the car company hadn't given us a map of Auckland) only to find that most of the them in that street were full, but there was one, with free internet I might add, that had space for us.

Tried to make it to shul, would've actually made it if we had walked, but the traffic was really bad, so got there near the end. Went out for supper to the Java House and had a great meal.

Saturday 18 May

We got up early hoping to go to the Sky Tower and museum. Since it was raining, went for a drive round town and when it cleared up, we headed up the tower. Something that was new to both of us, was getting YHA discounts at attractions and not student discounts. As usual we asked the lady for student tickets and she replied that they don't give student discounts. Luckily she was kind enough to ask if we had YHA cards since we would get discounts for that. We wondered how many other opportunities we had missed out on!

After the tower, headed to the museum. Walked around for a very short while, it was, in my opinion very badly laid out and not very interesting. They had a Maori performance that we watched. Interesting, but mainly geared to school kids, we felt.

Returned the car, were we heard that the breaks had needed adjustment and then off to the airport. Since it was Claire's birthday, I asked the air hostess if we could be upgraded. She kindly obliged, so we flew business Class. I could get used to those seats!

We arrived in Brisbane and customs took so long that we had to inform the customs to rush us through so that we could catch our next flight. As we checked in, we heard it was delayed for a few minutes, which meant we didn't have to run. Since we had to catch the train to the domestic terminal would have made us late, luckily we had already checked in. We ran to the terminal only to find that the plane was delayed further. I asked why it was delayed and was told that the pilot was flying another plane from Adelaide, which hadn't arrived yet. Needless to say we eventually arrived in Cairns at 22:00 and got the shuttle to Bel Air by the Sea, the hostel that we were staying at. After a while of claiming to have had the incorrect room, they miraculously found a master key to open the room.